Nagpur/Mumbai:Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to allow higher loans from NABARD to push agriculture reforms in Maharashtra. Fadnavis met with Jaitley in Delhi on Tuesday evening. The chief minister extended a formal invitation to Jaitley to attend the Global Magnetic Maharashtra summit in Mumbai to be held from February 18 to February 20.
During the meeting, the chief minister pushed various state projects in agriculture and infrastructure sectors. The Centre has assured to support the state’s initiative. Fadnavis said, “We urged the finance minister to allow Maharashtra to utilise fiscal space for higher borrowings for infrastructure development.”
“We have urged the finance minister to consider our proposal for higher loans at lower cost from NABARD. The state government wants to utilise the funds for creating agriculture infrastructure specially in the irrigation sector,” he said. Capital investments in agriculture have gone up from
Rs 23,000 crore to Rs 76,000 crore in the last three years in the state but the state government requires almost Rs 80,000 crore to complete its ongoing irrigation projects, said an official and added that the state has urged the Centre to provide Rs 10,500 crore for projects in drought prone districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha.
